Police have arrested a woman in connection with the July 2 drug overdose demise of acting legend Robert De Niro’s 19-year-old grandson Leandro.
Sofia Haley Marks, 20, is accused of selling Leandro De Niro Rodriguez drugs shortly before he was found dead in his New York City apartment.
According to a newspaper outlet, Sofia Haley Marks who’s been nicknamed ‘the Percocet Princess’, was arrested Thursday night at about 6 pm in an NYPD covert sting operation.
She’s been charged federally with distributing drugs, and investigators are executing a search of her home.
A representative for the NYPD told a newspaper outlet that they couldn’t confirm the arrest.
The teenager’s lifeless body was discovered sitting in a chair beside white powder inside a $950,000, one-bedroom apartment on Wall Street in New York.
A police source told a newspaper outlet the substance was discovered near the body but there were no signs of trauma.
A police source told TMZ that he was found by a friend who hadn’t heard from him in a few days and went to check on him.
Residents in the building, which is right next to the Wall Street subway stop told a newspaper outlet they saw an ambulance and a fire truck pull up on an otherwise peaceful Sunday afternoon.
The aspiring actor and director Leandro was following in his mother and grandfather’s career footsteps, landed a small role in 2018’s ‘A Star Is Born’ as the son of Bradley Cooper’s best friend, George ‘Noodles’ Stone, played by Dave Chappelle. He also appeared in Cabaret Maxime in 2018.
His mother Drena De Niro, an American actress adopted by Robert De Niro after the actor married her mother, Diahnne Abbot in 1976, announced his death.
His father Carlos, a well-known graffiti artist, and mother Drena, 51, conveyed a statement on Instagram on Monday as they reacted to Leandro’s untimely demise.
They said that it was with immeasurable shock and sadness that they had to say goodbye to their beloved son Leo, and they thanked everyone for their outpouring love and support and asked that they are given privacy at this time to process their inconsolable grief.
Carlos added as the caption to the post, which featured adorable images of Leandro at various ages: ‘You can’t spell Love without Leo’.
It’s extremely sad for the family of Leandro and may he rest in peace, but let’s face it, he knew what he was doing and how risky it could be, with drugs there’s always a gamble, and no one would have been charged so quickly if it hadn’t been a celebrity. What about others that have died of an overdose, are they any less worthy?
Some might say that he was responsible for his actions and that the supplier shouldn’t be condemned, but if there were no suppliers there would be no drug overdoses.
The suppliers are the criminals because they sell lethal weapons in the form of pills or powders to people that would otherwise have stood a chance in life.
We know that the suspect was caught very quickly, which is of course, a good thing, but then the system works for the rich and the famous because it’s a two-tier biased justice system, and justice comes fast when you have money.
However, this woman didn’t make Leandro take the drugs, he did that all by himself, but again if there were no dealers, there would be no deaths.
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